In native Spanish speaking, do you have to "avoid blames"?
I am studying video lesson 3.12 about the usage of "se" to avoid blames, and I remember reading somewhere else that in native Spanish speaking, when some accident happens, you should always use this type of "se" statement to avoid blame. For example, "Se me rompió el vaso" to express "I broke the glass." If one uses "Rompí el vaso", it actually implies "I broke the glass on purpose." In other words, when some accidents happens, one should use "se + i.o. + 3rd person verb + object" if it is not done on purpose.
Is this true? I would appreciate some native speaker's input here.
Also, what should I say if I had a car accident, and it is actually my fault. I want to say "I ran into his car." Do I use "Se me chochó con su choche"? In such situation, it is important to take the blame but not to mislead people by saying I did it on purpose.
Gracias.
4 Answers
In other words, when some accidents happens, one should use "se + i.o. + 3rd person verb + object" if it is not done on purpose.
This is the "accidental se".
The reflexive construction, used mainly with pronominal verbs, can also be used to describe accidental and unplanned occurrences.
I'm not a native speaker but the way I learned it, you don't normally put blame on a person, but you do blame the object. Such as 'se me olvido mi tarea' means that 'my homework forgot itself to me' in a sense instead of 'I forgot my homework'. It's just a nicer way of putting it. The only phrase I can think of to use blame is 'Gabo tiene la culpa' which means 'It's Gabo's fault. So for your car accident you could say 'Yo tenía la culpa' meaning 'It was my fault'. (I hoped this helped somewhat!).
Actually, if you broke the glass, you should say, "Quebré el vaso" (Romper is a better translation for this situation)
- If you say, se quebró (rompió) el vaso, then the other person would ask, How did it happen? or Who broke it?
- Now, if you want to make it sound like an accident and soften the situation, you would say, ¡Se me quebró el vaso! Me will put the responsibility on you, but it makes it apologetic.
- If you had a car accident, you should say, ¡Choqué el carro!. Again, if you want to make soften the situation, you would say. ¡Me choqué! You don't even have to say the word "car". Still, you are responsible, but this way sounds apologetic.
I really hope someone who knows for sure comes along and explains this. It's an interesting question. I would think you would be able to qualify most statements sufficiently by adding, "sin querer", but it would be nice to know how to say things the most natural way without implying intent. For instance, does "Fue mi culpa." mean "I did it on purpose.", or is it understood as a simple acceptance of responsibility?
